Drug Initiative Would Help Not Only the Poor

In “Drug Firms’ $50-Million California Prescription� (Golden State, July 25), Michael Hiltzik writes that Proposition 78 “would set up a prescription discount program for elderly residents and families earning less than 150% of the federal poverty level. (The benchmark would be $58,050 for a family of four.)�

His dollar figure is correct, but this is in fact 300% of the federal poverty level. According to the Census Bureau, median income for families of four in California is $67,814.

Thus the competing prescription drug initiative sponsored by organized labor in Proposition 79 -- with a threshold of 400% of the poverty level, or $77,400 -- reaches well beyond poor and low-income people to include those earning 14% more than the average Californian. This would be an unprecedented new entitlement and one that raises serious questions about the proper limits of state government in our healthcare market.

David Gollaher

President

and Chief Executive

California

Healthcare Institute

La Jolla